


www.potterybarn.com

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-11-19
Updated: 2002-11-19
Packaged: 2019-05-30 23:30:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15107045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Josh. Donna. Friday, before the rehearsal.





	www.potterybarn.com

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**www.potterybarn.com**

**by:** spitzthecat  


**Category/Pairing:** Josh/Donna  
**Written:** October 13, 2002  
**Rating:** ADULT for language  
**Disclaimer:** Not mine, never gonna be mine. Anything you recognize from pop culture isn't mine either. If it was, would I still be this deep in debt? Really, if you want my crappy ass job, truck payment and two emotionally disturbed cats you're welcome to them.  
**Summary:** 27th in the Joshua Monologues Series. Josh. Donna. Friday, before the rehearsal. 

* * *

**__**

Thursday, February 27, 2003 � Midnight

"You need to lighten up, buddy!" My best man seats himself on the barstool next to me.

Sam is drunk.

Toby, who looks nowhere near as bad as Sam, sits on my other side.

"What did you get Donna for a wedding gift?" Toby changes the subject.

"It's a surprise."

"Come on, we can keep a secret!" Sam takes another drink of his beer and almost falls off his stool.

I've never been the guest of honor at a bachelor party before, but I'm pretty sure I'm the one who's supposed to be that drunk.

Leo and the President join us just in time to catch Sam before he gets up close and personal with the floor.

"Sam, you gossip worse than my daughters and wife combined," Bartlet says, placing a steadying hand on Sam's shoulder. "What are we keeping a secret?"

"Josh refuses to tell us what he got Donna for a wedding gift," Sam whines.

The President knows; I talked with the First Lady and him about it in London. 

Leo knows because my mother told him. "You still need to 'work' tomorrow?"

"Yeah. The delivery guys are supposed to be there around 10 a.m."

President Bartlet gets a smirk on his face. "Why don't you take these two yokels with you?"

**__**

Friday, February 28, 2003 � 9 a.m.

"You're going to work like that?" Donna looks at me skeptically when I enter the kitchen.

A kitchen filled with people. People I don't know, but assume are somehow related to Donna.

"What?" I look down at myself. Old blue jeans, a Rock the Vote t-shirt from a campaign event last fall, a flannel shirt that dates to law school, and my disaster-area-touring boots � I'm wearing a complete set of clothing conducive to my planned activities for the day.

I get eyebrows in response.

Fortunately, the Secret Service motorcade arrives and saves me from being sent upstairs to put on a suit. CJ, Zoey and the Senior Assistants Association are spending the day with Donna, doing who knows what to get ready for tomorrow. 

I'm spending the day with the President, Leo, and my groomsmen getting ready for something else. Abbey Bartlet is coming with us, convinced we'll need the assistance and guidance of a woman.

She might be right.

"Where are we?" Toby asks when the Suburban finally stops in the gravel driveway, pseudo-front yard of a rambling three-story farmhouse.

"Home." I supply, getting out of the vehicle.

"What?" Sam is looking around the farm in confusion.

"You wanted to know what I got Donna for a wedding gift." Pulling the keys from my pocket, I usher my companions into the house.

"You got her a farm? In Wisconsin? For a wedding gift?" Even Matt's looking at me like I've grown a second head.

Thankfully, Paul left the heat up when he and Fred were out here last weekend finishing the painting for their unknown buyer. 

Nobody in Donna's family is in on my surprise. I didn't want to start a family feud by buying the place. So I had my attorney take care of the details, making sure the buyer was anonymous until I signed the purchase contract yesterday.

The house is eerily empty, a situation which will be rectified today.

"It's not just a farm. It washer grandparents farm." 

There is no way I can explain the look I saw in Donna's eyes when I asked her if there was anything she wanted from out here and she replied by saying 'the house.'

"You realize there's no furniture?" Sam calls from the living room.

Speak of the furniture and it shall arrive. 

I hear the delivery truck as the words come out of Sam's mouth.

"Pottery Barn, Josh?" Matt laughs with a shake of his head. "You really are gay."

"Not only do they deliver, but I could shop online while I was in London," I defend my heterosexuality while glaring at Leo.

"You didn't outfit the entire house, did you?" Abbey is looking around with trepidation.

"God, no. That would require Margaret and it would have been all over Washington. I just got stuff for the master bedroom and the kitchen." Donna won't care about the kitchen, she doesn't cook anyway.

"Margaret?" Leo asks, incredulously.

"She helped Donna redecorate the apartment when Donna moved in last summer," I shrug.

Toby nods his agreement. "I realize it is difficult to comprehend, but Margaret is surprisingly adept at interior design."

***

The furniture people are barely gone before the appliance store people show up. 

"Nice coffee table," Dr. Bartlet mentions when she comes into the kitchen. "Everything upstairs is squared away. What are we doing with the rest of the day?"

She caught Sam and I contemplating the new stove. The house has a propane tank and I get the impression I can't just plug the stove in and be done with it.

I could quite easily blow up the entire house.

"Hey, Dr. Bartlet, what is the story with the coffee table?" Sam's question, the answer to which is a fairly well guarded secret, draws almost everyone within earshot into the kitchen.

"Mrs. B, if I swear there's a guy coming to install the stove�" I silently beg her to not let it slip.

"Doctor-patient confidentiality," she pats Sam on the shoulder and smiles at me.

Leo, the First Lady and CJ are the only people who know for certain what the coffee table thing is about. The President suspects, and despite his carefully schooled features, I'd say he's pretty dead-on.

The rest of them grumble about not knowing until the pizza guy shows up. Ed and Larry make a beer run and while they're gone, the appliance installation people show up.

I'm not entirely stupid. I know how and, more importantly, when to hire help.

We spend most of the day sitting in the empty living room, eating pizza and enduring a Presidential trivia session on the benefits of country living.

Until I get the question.

"Josh, are you ready for this?"

Not surprisingly it comes from the President.

"The getting married to Donna this?" I want to clarify, because I'm still not 100% comfortable with owning a home in Wisconsin. 

Abbey smacks me for him.

I don't even hesitate. Am I ready to spend the rest of my life with Donna and stand up in front of her family and tell them that? Maybe not the second part, because I don't know them very well, but definitely the first part. 

I am ready to spend the rest of my life with Donnatella.

I take a drink of the one beer I've been allotted and nod.

"Most definitely."

Next: "Toasts & Traditions"

"I'm gonna need index cards for that..."


End file.
